The Ultimate Beginner Guide to Raising Backyard Chickens

I didn’t grow up on a farm. Except for that time in first grade when we hatched chicks in school, I had little experience with chickens outside the kitchen. So, when I decided back in 2020 to embark on life as a chicken mama, I had a lot of research to do. 

That doesn’t mean there aren’t great reasons for owning chickens. There is a reason it has become so popular in recent years. Raising some of your own food means that, at least in part, you have control over some of the food you consume. While they won’t necessarily cost less, fresh, free-range eggs are delicious, and surprisingly, more nutritious than your average grocery store eggs. 

Chickens provide natural pest control. Insects are their favorite food. They also do a great job of reducing household food waste, as they are happy to eat many of the scraps we would ordinarily dispose of. 

Choosing the Right Number

I’m a more is more person, so when I decided to purchase my first chicks, I bought quite a few more than we needed for egg purposes. I got caught up in the breeds and egg colors, and ended up with about a dozen by the end of that first summer. 

If you want only as many eggs as your family will eat, it’s simple to calculate the number of birds you should bring home. During their laying season (yes, they have a non-laying season), most breeds will lay between three and seven eggs per week. You can choose breeds that specifically lay every day; the only downside is that they typically don’t lay for as many years. 

If you go with a standard of five eggs per hen per week, determine how many eggs your family eats in a week and divide it by 5. This is approximately how many hens you will need. If everyone in your family of five eats an egg per day, every day, you’ll need seven chickens. 

*A note on chicken math

Chicken math is real. You can ask anyone who owns chickens. More likely than not, you will end up with more birds than you initially acquired. This is mostly important when it comes to building your coop. More on that in a bit. 

Choosing the Right Breed

There are more than 500 different breeds of chicken worldwide. Like dogs, humans breed chickens for desirable traits and appearances, and they range widely in these ways. Some birds are calm, docile, and friendly, while others are flighty and anxious around people. 

If you’re raising backyard chickens for meat, you’ll choose different breeds than you would for eggs exclusively. There are also dual-purpose birds that are great egg producers, get quite plump over time, and are good for eating as well. 

Most folks start with backyard chickens for the eggs rather than the meat. But you may decide down the road that you want to eat your birds once they stop laying eggs. I’m not judging, but if you’re going to do this, I highly recommend not naming them. 

When it comes to raising meat birds, the most popular option is the Cornish Cross. This breed is famous for the chicks’ rapid growth. They also have great feed conversion efficiency, which means that a lot of what they eat turns into meat. 

For exclusively egg-laying chickens, I have to recommend ISA Browns as my number one choice. These girls are great foragers; their bodies are small and efficient with feed, and they lay beautiful, extra-large, dark brown eggs. They’re also quite friendly. Ours prefer our company to the rest of the flock. 

Other great laying breeds include Leghorns, Orpingtons, Marans, Rhode Island Reds, and Plymouth Rocks. There are lots of good layers out there, but most of them fall into what I consider the dual-purpose category. They are above-average egg layers, but they also get fairly sizable for eating. They tend to have a lower food conversion efficiency. 

Finally, we have our fancy colored eggs. I love a beautiful speckled egg; if it’s olive green, it’s even better. If you want colored eggs, look for Easter Eggers, which are often called Ameraucana; these are much rarer and more expensive. Easter eggers have a strong chance of inheriting the blue egg gene from a parent, but they are technically a crossbreed. A hybrid, if you will. 

Most of the birds I’ve mentioned here are relatively friendly, except maybe the Leghorn. They can be a little skittish. Orpingtons, Marans, and Easter Eggers have always been our friendliest birds. 

Do You Need a Rooster?

The all-important question is: Do I need a rooster if I have chickens? The answer is mostly no. Your chickens will produce eggs with or without a rooster. Roosters are generally disagreeable and aggressive animals, so if you can manage without one, you’ll save yourself from looking over your shoulder any time he’s around. 

That said, a rooster that you handle often and kindly is going to grow accustomed to humans to an extent. Some can be quite sweet, but for the most part, they aren’t. 

If you have predators in your area, a rooster is a good investment. A rooster will alert you and your flock of a threat, and a good rooster will go down fighting for his girls. Raccoons love to eat hens, but they aren’t likely to tangle with a 10-pound rooster with spurs. 

I’ve found that larger roosters tend to be calmer and less feisty. But when they do get mad, it’s a problem. Smaller roosters have a lot to prove, and they want to prove it to anyone who crosses their path. They are most aggressive in their first spring after maturation, and some mellow as they age. They also come in handy if you want to hatch your own eggs. You do need a rooster for fertilized eggs.

Take all of this rooster talk for what you will. I’ve had some unpleasant roosters, but I do have one, and he is useful even if I have to carry a hose when I walk past him. Chickens are not water birds.

Raising Chicks

Raising chicks is a fun and exciting part of having backyard chickens, especially the first time. We spent a lot of time sitting in the grass with our first babies, and as a result, they were quite friendly. The more you and others handle and engage with your chicks, the more they will seek out human company. 

Brooder Set Up

Before you bring your new babies home, you will need to set up a brooder. This is the box that your chicks will live in for the first several weeks, until they are large enough to move outdoors. This depends on the time of year you get started.

I like to start a bit later in the year so that it’s warm enough for them to sleep outdoors by about six weeks old, without a heat source. This means no dips below 70°F (21°C) at night. If you start earlier in the year, you’ll want a larger brooder to accommodate for their size. 

You can make a brooder from different things, or purchase one already assembled. My first brooder was a large cardboard box with pine shavings and a heat lamp. A very bad idea. For one thing, cardboard is not water-tight, and when they spill their water, it will soak through and make a big mess. 

Better choices would be a large plastic tote, a wood bottom box, a metal feed trough, or a portable one like this one from My Pet Chicken. It folds up, so you can tuck it away for most of the year. 

The heat lamp is a fire hazard. I have since graduated to a heat plate, which is a much safer alternative. I think it’s preferable for the chicks as well. It mimics the snug, warm feeling of being under their mama hen, and they can get away from the heat if they need to. It’s also much more fire-safe. 

You will need some type of litter or shavings for the bottom of the brooder. Chicks like to scratch around, and you want something to absorb moisture and give them some cushion, too. Hemp or paper bedding works well, I like pine shavings, and you can also try sand or straw. 

Finally, you need a food and water setup. There are a handful of different designs at different price points. They are all similar, though, and function the same way. 

A gravity watering bowl makes things easier because it’s too heavy to knock over, and you don’t have to refill it constantly. For food, a container that they can access all the way around is nice. If they have to fight to get to the food, you might begin to see a pecking order take shape. This will happen anyway, but it’s best to keep things as peaceful as possible in the brooder. 

Medicated vs. Unmedicated Feed

When you go to purchase or order feed for your chicks, you’ll notice two different types of products. There is medicated feed and non-medicated feed. The difference is that the medicated feed contains medication to prevent a disease called coccidiosis. 

Coccidiosis is a disease caused by parasites in a chicken’s intestines. It is serious for chicks and can result, ultimately, in death. Most hatcheries offer vaccination when you purchase chicks. Many backyard growers opt to get them vaccinated, but they can also give them medicated food as a safeguard. 

How Warm for How Long?

Chicks have to stay warm when they are tiny. For the first few weeks, they stay under their mama most of the time. Gradually, they are able to spend less time warming up and more time exploring and eating. As they age, they need and want less heat. 

Run vs. Free Range

When it comes to the size of your coop, how your chickens spend their day matters. Free-ranging is the healthiest way for your chickens to live, but it’s not possible for everyone. It certainly has benefits and drawbacks. 

The benefits are fairly straightforward and predictable. Chickens are curious, and they like to eat. The more space they have to poke around and scratch for bugs and weeds to eat, the better. It also means that your coop stays cleaner for longer, as they will spend most of the day out of it. Also, the more varied your chickens’ diets are, the more nutrients in their eggs. 

The drawbacks are less obvious, but will become much more so as soon as you let them loose in your garden and yard. Chickens poop, a ton. They leave it wherever they go, and they will come up on your deck and on your sidewalks and anywhere else they can get to. 

If you’re a gardener, they will destroy your beds if you mulch them, and eat things that you don’t want them to eat. They can tear up turf grass as well if there are enough of them. 

My compromise has been to fence off a portion of my yard for them. It’s about one-sixth of an acre, which is plenty of room for two dozen birds. This keeps most of them where I want them, and out of my garden. There will always be a couple of birds who find their way out of the run, but it keeps it to a minimum. 

Enough Space Per Chicken

After you decide whether they will be free-range or not, you can determine how much room you need in a coop and an attached, protected run. Free-range birds will require less space indoors, as they will only sleep there. 

For free-range backyard chickens, plan on at least two square feet of space and 18 inches of roosting space. In this case, you can choose to have an attached run or not. We have one, and it comes in handy when we need a weekend away. It’s large enough that the birds don’t feel cooped up being in there for a day or two. 

For birds that will be in the coop and protected run, they will need at least four square feet of coop space and five to ten square feet of run space per bird. More is always better. 

Lastly, you’ll need nesting boxes. You should provide them with one nesting box for every four hens. They will probably wait in line and all use the same one, but it’s good to have options. 

They will also need space to take refuge in inclement weather. If you build a run and give it a solid roof, they will be happier on rainy days. 

Build or Buy?

Once you know how much space you need for your backyard chickens, you can shop for a coop or find someone to build it for you. If you’re handy in that way, you can fund many plans online and construct just about any kind of coop you could want. 

Coops come in many sizes, shapes, and materials. There are coops that fit every style, and those with plenty of technical bells and whistles. Buy or build one that is secure. That is the most important function of a coop.  It should also be weatherproof. It should keep moisture out and let air circulate. Not only that, but it should give them some insulation, whether you have cold winters or hot summers. 

Bedding

The floor of your coop will need bedding, and it needs to be absorbent and stand up to the weather. It should also be easy to clean out. I use pine shavings in my coop, the same type I use in my brooder. It’s a little pricey for this purpose, but because my girls only sleep in there, I don’t have to clear it out quite as often. You can use straw, sand, or hay, really anything that absorbs moisture and keeps the floor clean. 

Predator Proofing

I can’t stress enough that your coop and enclosed run need to be predator-proof. Any areas where they will spend time at night need to be safe from the prying hands of a raccoon and the digging paws of a fox. Not every neighborhood has foxes, but raccoons are everywhere. 

One of the most dangerous misunderstandings about keeping chickens safe is chicken wire. Chicken wire doesn’t keep predators out; it just keeps chickens in or out. Raccoons can pull apart those holes and reach through easily, and larger predators can even chew through the wire. 

The better solution is to use hardware cloth. Hardware cloth is a metal mesh that’s much stronger than chicken wire. You can use it to cover any entrances or exits a predator could take, and to cover an outdoor run as well. 

If you use it to construct a run without a floor, make sure you dig down about six inches or more and bury your hardware cloth in the ground. It should be difficult to dig underneath it. 

Setting Up For Success

Once you have your coop installed, it’s time to get yourself set up for raising a successful flock of chickens in your backyard. Eight weeks rolls around fast, but when you have a box full of smelly chickens in your living room, it can seem to drag on forever. You’re going to want them out there as soon as possible and there are some things to set up before they move in.

Feeding

Your chickens will need to eat, and you’ll want to make feeding them as low-maintenance as possible. I’m a fan of gravity feeders and ones that hold several days of feed. 

You can go big on feeders and purchase really convenient and well-constructed feeders, or you can make your own. As long as your birds have access to food every day, they won’t care what it looks like. But you might care, and there are certainly feeders that look as great as they function. 

Water

Water is similar, if not more important than feed. Your birds always need access to clean water, so make sure that you have an easy way to provide that. If you don’t have a water spigot near the coop, buy a contractor-grade hose and run it out there. Hauling water to your coop every day is a lot of work. 

Watering containers are just like feed containers. There are fancy ones and simple ones. Your chickens won’t know the difference as long as they have clean water to drink, but it’s okay to want the bells and whistles if that works best for you. 

Egg Collection and Storage

It’s going to feel like forever before you get your first egg from those adorable chicks. Most breeds take at least five or six months before they begin laying, depending on the breed. It can take longer, so patience is key here. 

Your first few eggs may not be impressive. Most times, a chicken will lay a couple of smaller eggs before her body gets the hang of it. You may get something we call a ‘fairy egg’, which is a tiny egg that looks like it must have come from a much smaller bird. These are normal at first and quite adorable. 

Once your girls are laying, it’s good to gather eggs daily. In cooler weather, it won’t hurt to leave them for a day or two. If the temperature is around the same as the indoor room temperature, they are fine out there. In hot weather, bring them in as soon as you can. 

Once you bring your eggs in, you have a couple of choices. You can wash them and put them in the refrigerator, where they will stay fresh for three to five weeks. This is the method I recommend least, as it removes the protective bloom and allows bacteria to enter the shell. Always wash your eggs in warm water. Water above 90°F (32°C) will keep the egg from drawing bacteria in through those pores. 

When a hen lays an egg, the last thing that happens is that she puts a coat of bloom on it. This is a protective covering that seals the pores in the egg. When there is a baby chick growing in there, this is important for protecting it from bacteria. 

One of the nicest things about your own fresh eggs is that they will still have the bloom on them, unlike store-bought eggs. You can leave these on the counter at room temperature for two weeks or store them in the refrigerator for up to three months. Just wash them in warm water before you use them. 

Common Challenges

Raising backyard chickens isn’t always easy. Challenges can pop up, and it’s good to prepare ahead of time. If you have the right supplies on hand, it will be less stressful when these issues arise. 

Pecking Order

You’ve undoubtedly heard about the pecking order, and it is definitely a real thing. Think of the pecking order as the line of dominance in your flock. The dominant chicken is at the top of the order, and each hen has her own place down to the least dominant, which is often the newest. 

The pecking order isn’t written in stone. A hen can move up if she wants to assert dominance and achieves it. She can also get knocked down if someone tougher decides to bump her. 

Some hens and flocks can be very aggressive, which leads to problems in the pecking order. If you notice one bird becoming the target of a lot of bullying, it’s important to find the hen at the top of the order and remove her. This gives everyone a shake-up. If another specific bird is picking on someone, you can remove her as well. 

Hold the removed bird apart from the flock for two or three days. She won’t be happy about it, but it will reset the vibe and hopefully create some harmony. When you reintroduce her, she must re-establish her place in the order. 

Illness and Injury

Illnesses and injuries are not certain, but they are likely to happen over time. Sometimes, a predator will harm a bird, sometimes, birds will harm themselves, and sometimes, an illness will move in.

You can’t necessarily prepare for every event, but there are some items that you can have on hand that will help in many situations. First, I highly recommend getting some Vetricyn poultry spray. It’s an antibiotic spray that is great for any scrapes, bites, or cuts that turn up. 

I like to have some poultry electrolytes on hand. They are great for extra hot days or any time there is extra stress in the environment. They’re also good for giving them any time they have an illness or injury, as they help with stress. Think of this as a Pedialyte for chickens. 

Some other items I like to have around are diatomaceous earth, which you can dust their coop with or add to their feed to combat parasites and mites. Nutritious snacks are also great for your birds. 

Seasonal Egg Production

Egg-laying season is a disappointment that many chicken owners don’t understand until it happens. So it’s good to know ahead of time to plan for it. 

Most chickens don’t lay year-round. In fact, many breeds only lay for about nine months. They all go through a period of molting in the fall or winter. They shed most, if not all, of their feathers and then grow them all back. This requires a lot of energy, so they don’t lay during this time. 

Fewer daylight hours also mean fewer eggs. They need about 14-16 hours of light per day to trigger egg laying, so in those darker winter months, they take a break. 

How you plan for this is up to you. I freeze eggs to use over the winter, but truthfully, we just eat fewer eggs during that time. You can preserve them, and you can store them in the fridge unwashed for up to three months, so that will take you pretty far into the off-season.